“If the opposing ideologies meant they had one hand tied behind their back,” Professor Hazan said of the various parties trying to find a way to work together to oust Mr. Netanyahu, “now they have both hands tied behind their back.”
Mohammad Darawshe, of the Center for Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva, an organization promoting Jewish-Arab relations, said the trend among the Arab parties was “for new political engagement.” But the longer the coalition talks drag on, and the worse the violence becomes, the more the discord between the left, right and Arab flanks of the anti-Netanyahu bloc is likely to increase, he said.
“The polarization is growing,” he said, “not only among the politicians but also among their bases.”
As the conflict intensifies, Mr. Netanyahu has tried to project confidence and dispel the notion that his hold on power is crumbling.
“If someone thought that there wouldn’t be a united, strong and forceful leadership here because of some consideration or other, they were wrong,” he said during a visit on Wednesday to Acre, a mixed Jewish-Arab city in northern Israel where some of the worst ethnic violence has played out. “We are here,” he said. “We are working with all our might to protect Israel from enemies outside and rioters within.”
The crisis could help Mr. Netanyahu win over opponents who had promised during the election campaign not to enter a government led by him, said Mitchell Barak, a Jerusalem-based pollster and political analyst.
“Netanyahu is exactly where he wants to be, in the middle of a major crisis where you don’t want to change the prime minister or the defense minister,” Mr. Barak said.